Re: Cult: Bloom (Somewhat long)


	Several members of our local society came to my garden today for
some lessons in grooming irises for our annual show which is on Saturday.
The afternoon turned off sunny and warm, finally after so much rain and so
many chilly and windy days.  Looking at irises in the beds was no problem
because they is grass to walk on, but the seedlings and some older
cultivars are planted as a row crop with dirt and mud in between.  

	After deciding which stalks were show worthy, we cut one with a
spent side bloom but with a fresh terminal and another branch bloom.  The
technique for removing the faded bloom was demonstrated followed by a
brushing of the stalk and petals with a lady's make-up  brush. A leaf on
the side branch showed a browning tip and a speck of leaf spot and that
was trimmed with cuticle scissors in a configuration to simulate the
natural form of the leaf.

	I asked the students to pick three irises that impressed them the
most and they are as follows with my descriptions.

	CHANGE OF PACE....Tannish pink standards with wide pansy purple
band on a stark white ground.  Just a suggestion of a central pin-stripe
of lighter purple.  Bronzy beard with blue purple at the end.  A lady
remarked, "When you hear somebody say an iris looks like an orchid, this
must be the one they are talking about."  This is really an eye-catcher.

	PRIVATE TREASURE...Intense orange standards.  Fiery red beards
with a flash of white on orange/yellow falls.  Illuminates the entire bed.

	HELLO DARKNESS...Ruffled dark (almost black) self with deep indigo
beard.  Nicely branched.  A comment was made that it had Dykes written all
over it.

	I just wish they could be here tomorrow when JUNGLE PRINCESS
blooms.  Or, do I?  I think I might have to call 911 when  they see the
buckskin standards atop the wine/maroon falls and collapse in a 'dead'
faint.

	I also asked them to pick one seedling they liked.  Surprisingly,
they all picked the same one!  Now does that mean I had only one good
seedling in the entire patch???  This seedling happened to be the first
one in a row that was not so muddy, so maybe that was the reason.  Anyway
the seedling is a lacy yellow and white border bearded out of PINKNESS X
WHITE REPRISE, two rebloomers.  It has the lace of PINKNESS and the form
of WHITE REPRISE.  Since this is maiden bloom, it remains to be seen if it
got the reblooming genes or not and whether it will stay in class.

	Walter Moores
	Enid Lake, MS 7/8
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